This was a very nice cruise, one of the nicest ships I've ever been on. The positives greatly outweighed the negatives and I'd recommend it to anyone.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
We were cruise ship refugees from the cancelled Regal Princess cruise. As a result, we booked on short notice with no ability to check in or get a room number in advance. All we know was where to park and the go to the cruise terminal for more information. This led to a generally stressfully experience that was not smooth at all. Once we got past security, all was good from the on.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
None of the food was horrible, inedible, or the other adjectives you often see; but, I also didn't find much of the food noteworthy. The ocean Blue speciality restaurant came the closest to an outstanding food experience. Others hovered between 3 and 4 ratings for the food. We ate one lunch and one breakfast at the buffet and never went back (that pretty explains how we felt about it). The main dining rooms themselves are very tasteful, almost elegant. The biggest problem is the many dining areas that open up into the center and are flooded with noise and chatter. O'Sheehans was constantly blasted with noise from the atrium lobby and feels nothing like the pub experience you get on some of their other ships. The Ice Bar was a new fun experience. Don't go in open toe shoes!
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
We didn't do much other than hang out in the rear adult area. This is a very nice area only marred by some stupid requirement to have to manually restart the hot tub jets every five minutes
Entertainment
4 out of 5
We couldn't make the million dollar quarter. Broadway Unplugged was performed masterly (although I would have personally preferred the original tunes). The impromptu Movie Comedy Sketch show done by the entertainment team was one of the funniest things I've ever seen on a ship. Many options were available nightly except for one sparse night mid-cruise. My negative for this rating is my ship-tip.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
I've had a few negative encounters on previous NCL ships. This one was all five star encounters. Everyone was nice and helpfull
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
It's a beautiful ship. Everything was kept spotless the entire cruise. The "waterfront" that allows you to lounge along a promenade deck is a great idea. Do know that the forward cabins are a longggg way from everything - including the forward elevator bank.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
As noted, this was an assigned cabin due to my late booking. It was a very small interior, probably the smallest cabin I ever had. Mrs Jallaway said it was cute and that's all that mattered. The bathroom was ample with a solid shower enclosure. Location was no fun
This cabin is almost at the very front and a long walk to reach
Ship tip
The multiple bars and venues are relatively small and seemed to fill nightly. Unlike other cruises I've been on. On most nights there was no available seating at any of them.
I really like going to New Orleans. The port terminal confounds me Everytime. This cruise, the city was besieged by Swifties and I didn't get to spend my pre-cruise hotel in the city
Docked downtown for the first time and I was a bit surprised to find that the pier facilities were a bit run down. Because of the uncertainty of the weather, we just went to Carlos and Charlie's. I was surprised and a bit disappointed to find their whole beachfront is now packed with inflatables, but we had a good time in the water and watching crazed dudes climbing and jumping from them
We took a cab downtown and walked the malecon. Turnout was very light because of the sporadic rain. Strangely enough, the beach water itself actually looked very good this time. But no swim wear meant no swimming and we headed back after she hit all the shops.
This port was supposed to have a deluge of rain. And, of course, it didn't rain the entire time we were ashore. Mrs Jallaway loves craft markets and I again followed her out the gate and toward downtown. A half mile later and her search had only found a few really sketchy booths with no other tourists in site. She wisely hailed the first cab to be seen and we finished the day chillaxin in the port pool.
Again, we didn't book because of the forecast for severe weather. We did tender into town and checked it out. This trip's out-of-the-gate experience took us over to a sad craft market where both a woman and kids begged for money. We like to be able to support the locals, they just didn't really have anything we wanted. After about 30 minutes, we headed back and spent the rest of the day on the ship.
It was generally okay. About 20 minutes to get off and another 20 to get out of the terminal. Note there are some surly gals in the terminal itself. One acted like she wanted to fight with another guest rather than answer my question. On our way back, we found a shuttle back that would take us back to the garage. I have no idea if it was around when I arrived and if I was even allowed to take it. That's kind a problem at this port
Yeah, we've been there a few times. The whole cruise was supposed to be a rain-out and all the excursions said there were no refunds in the event of rain. So, we didn't risk that and instead risked being robbed or assaulted.
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